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In the wake of last week\u2019s presidential debate between the 78- and 81-year-old candidates\u2014and the impression among some that President Joe Biden<\/a> looked \u201cold and frail<\/a>,\u201d with at least one public call<\/a> for cognitive testing\u2014much of America has had age on the brain.<\/p>\n But what does<\/em> age actually do to the brain? Fortune<\/em> consulted with experts on aging to get a clearer picture.<\/p>\n \u201cThe brain undergoes many changes<\/a> associated with aging, and one of them is the shrinkage of what we call the outer layer of the brain, or the cortex,\u201d Emily Rogalski, professor of neurology at the University of Chicago and director of its Healthy Aging & Alzheimer\u2019s Research Care Center<\/a>, tells Fortune.\u00a0<\/p>\n The cortex, she explains, is like the bark on a tree, and is the layer where brain cells live.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s really important to our thinking and our communication,\u201d she says, and its shrinking tends to occur in areas related to memory, and tends to be correlated with changes in memory\u2014which is at its peak performance, believe it or not, when we are just in our 20s or early 30s<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Also vulnerable as a result are skills of attention and executive functioning. \u201cAnd all of these things are interrelated in a way, because you need to have good attention in order to remember something,\u201d Rogalski says. \u201cOur cognitive functions don\u2019t just sit on little islands of, here\u2019s memory and here\u2019s attention, and there\u2019s no interaction. It\u2019s a complex system.\u201d<\/p>\n A recent McKnight Brain Research Foundation survey<\/a>, points out Patricia Boyle, professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Rush University and a neuropsychologist with the Rush Alzheimer\u2019s Disease Center<\/a>, found that 87% of Americans are concerned about experiencing age-related memory loss and a decline in brain function as they grow older. <\/p>\n \u201cBut, what many don\u2019t know is that age-related memory loss is not always a sign of a serious cognitive problem,\u201d Boyle tells Fortune<\/em>. \u201cMost people do not understand that age-related memory loss<\/a> is usually associated with mild forgetfulness and is a normal part of brain aging and not necessarily a sign of a serious memory problem.\u201d<\/p>\n Some signs of normal aging, she says, include:<\/p>\n \u201cAs we get older, it is normal to see signs of cognitive aging just like it\u2019s normal to see the physical signs of your body aging, like moving slower or more aches and pains,\u201d Boyle says.<\/p>\n Brain volume continues to decrease as we age\u2014including the frontal lobe and hippocampus<\/a>, the areas responsible for cognitive functions\u2014with the rate of shrinkage increasing by around age 60.<\/p>\n \u201cWith aging, we increase our risk for many diseases just by getting older,\u201d which makes sense, Rogalski explains, if you think about wear and tear and the increasing vulnerabilities of our body\u2014and the fact that, unlike with hips or knees, there are no brain replacements.<\/p>\n Aging brings the possibility of one of two types of atypical loss of cognitive function, notes Dr. John Rowe<\/a>, a Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health professor of health policy and aging: dementia and mild cognitive impairment (MCI), \u201can age-related change that occurs in between 12% and 18% of older people, over 65,\u201d he says. \u201cAnd what is reflected in day-to-day living is that people become more forgetful, they lose things, they miss appointments, and this can have an impact on your day-to-day function.\u201d MCI, he adds, progresses to dementia in about 10% of people per year.<\/p>\n Rogalski stresses that an important part of looking at aging is to not just dwell on the things that go wrong, but new opportunities. \u201cA huge challenge with aging is actually the stigma associated with aging and the expectations that we put on individuals as they age\u2014that there is no trajectory but down\u2014and that we take away activities and responsibilities that people can do.\u201d<\/p>\n And that\u2019s a problem in some new, luxury assisted-living facilities, she says, which provide services from room service to laundry folding. \u201cIt turns out that many of these daily activities that we do, such as washing our dishes or just moving around, are actually really good for keeping those muscles strong.\u201d Similarly, it\u2019s important to keep our brain engaged and active<\/a>, which can come in many forms. \u201cIt can come from staying socially connected. It can come from learning something new. But we want to think about exercising our brain and using our body, including thinking about ways to practice our fine motor skills \u2026 and if we have those things taken away and done for us, we\u2019re not necessarily doing ourselves a service.\u201d<\/p>\n Still, stresses Rowe, \u201cThere\u2019s tremendous variability. And what we\u2019re seeing is an increasing proportion of the older population that\u2019s performing at very high levels who are kind of superagers<\/a>.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Rogalski, through her research as part of the ongoing, multidisciplinary SuperAging Research Initiative<\/a>, is looking at evidence from biologic, family history and lifestyle perspectives in order to learn what makes certain people seem to barely age, at least cognitively.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWhat we\u2019ve seen is that superagers, biologically, seem to look different. Their brains actually look more like 50 to 60 year olds than they do like 80 year olds,\u201d she says, adding that their rate of shrinkage is slower than that of average 80-year-olds.<\/p>\n\nThe incredible shrinking cortex<\/h2>\n
Age-related memory loss is normal<\/h2>\n
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Brain shrinkage does accelerate when you\u2019re older<\/h2>\n
Some older adults are performing at high levels<\/h2>\n
Enter the superagers\u2026<\/strong><\/h2>\n